


Complicated Simplicity

by thecloudydreamer92



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, Ice Skating, M/M, Manga & Anime, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-08
Updated: 2017-01-08
Packaged: 2018-09-15 17:55:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,219
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9249242
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thecloudydreamer92/pseuds/thecloudydreamer92
Summary: When Victor suggests that he and Yuri perform a duet for next year's championships, Yuri is overcome with an inferiority complex and a tidal wave of feelings that, up until now, he's managed to ignore. Based upon Episode 12's credits scene.





	1. Chapter 1

The ice rink is silent and they sit alone on the bleachers, watching as the light of the setting sun sets the sky beyond the window ablaze in hues of fire and bronze. Or at least Yuri watches while he sits beside his coach and waits. Victor is frowning, a delicate curve of his brows under a shock of platinum hair. His eyes are distant, no doubt seeing something only visible in his own mind. His fingers tap out an idle rhythm against the polystyrene cup in his hand. The hand that coincidentally still bares the golden band on its fourth finger. Yuri tries not to focus to much on that and instead begins to follow the dust motes as they dance through the air before him. He sighs and they scatter in the wake of his breath.

  
Eventually, Victor’s fingers brush against his wrist and Yuri looks back, momentarily startled. Victor smiles and it’s somewhat reassuring. They’ve been trying to put together a program for Yuri for the better half of the day but inspiration has been hard to come by, even for Victor. Although he denies it, Yuri has the feeling that trying to design a winning program for both himself and Yuri has been surprisingly difficult for the Russian champion.

  
‘I have an idea,’ Victor tells him now, looking thoughtfully into his half-drunken coffee. For a moment, Yuri thinks that that’s all Victor is going to tell him. That he has to try and guess what’s going on inside his head but Victor shoots him an amused and uncharacteristically sly expression before he can say anything. ‘How do you feel about pair skating?’

  
There is a moment of silence as Yuri attempts to process what Victor is suggesting. Pair skating is notoriously difficult; if not the most dangerous and he hasn’t tried it since he and Yuuko would perform clumsy routines together back when he was five. He cannot recall Victor ever skating as a part of a duo either though and when he points this out Victor only laughs.

  
‘Think how surprised the audience will be,’ He says, still laughing. ‘I’ve practised it in the past although I’ve never wanted to take it to the championships before now. We can learn together.’

  
Learn together...it’s a pleasant notion though Yuri doesn’t fool himself into believing that Victor will be anything less than perfect at it. If anyone will be learning, Yuri is under no illusion as to who will be the student. Still, the idea of skating with Victor in front of an audience is more inviting than he would have expected and before he can stop himself he’s nodding his head and Victor is grinning, looking impossibly happy and Yuri has to pretend to be tightening his skates to hide the heat blooming across his cheeks.

  
O O O O

  
Pair skating as it turns out, is much easier in theory than it is in practice. Victor, fulled by the momentum of his own enthusiasm, wakes Yuri early the following day to announce that he has drawn up the perfect program for them.

  
It’s a beautiful routine, Yuri thinks to himself now as he watches Victor perform his half of it alone on the ice. He looks almost ethereal – framed as he is by the wintry Russian sunlight filtering in through the windows, but it’s a difficult routine and Yuri can’t help the familiar feelings of self-doubt from rising up in his chest. He takes a steadying breath, tries to stay focused on Victor – the way he used to do growing up when all he had were posters and recorded TV shows to calm his nerves before contests.  
Victor moves effortlessly, beautiful and graceful as he tells his story. He hasn’t actually told Yuri what this years theme will be and for once, Yuri can’t even guess. Something about the routine tugs gently at his memories, as though trying to tell him something important. Something glaring obvious. He puts it down to nerves, to the realisation that this is real and that he’s about to perform a routine with an idol who, until not long ago, had seemed as unreachable to him as the moon. How is he supposed to keep up with that? Victor is only four years his senior but for all the difference in their abilities, there may as well have been decades between them. When he voices his concerns to Victor however, his coach only looks amused and sets warm, comforting hands on his shoulders. ‘You will be fine,’ He says, as though this should be obvious. ‘I will be right here with you.’

  
It isn’t until Yuri continues to look disbelieving that Victor finally smiles and says, ‘Besides, I have seen you perform this before. It is why I became your coach in the first place, after all.’

  
It takes a minute for Yuri to figure it out. Watching Victor without the accompanying piece of music he hadn’t recognised it before but now, as Victor glides back out onto the ice and holds out his hand, inviting Yuri to join him, Yuri realises that this is the same program that Victor had performed the year before his break. A tune, made fuzzy by the passing of almost two years, slowly starts to come back to him. It had been a sombre but hauntingly beautiful piece; Stay Close To Me, it had been called, (And Never Let Go).


	2. Chapter 2

The music begins and Victor dances and though it is perhaps the most beautiful thing he's ever seen, Yuri cannot help but wonder when all of this will end. When this dream that he is currently living in will come to a close and Victor retires for real and Yurio goes on to become Russia's next champion. Because it will happen, eventually. Victor is already twenty-eight, an uncommonly old age even for a senior skater though Yuri has never noticed his ability suffering for it, and Yurio is fast becoming the next world champion, despite his frustration at his changing body. But where does that leave him?

At twenty three, he's already past his own prime as a professional – this season could be one of his last. He lacks the raw ability that has carried Victor through for so long and he doesn't want to be a burden on a coach who could make a real difference to someone else. Even Yurio would benefit from Victor's sole attentions, as much as he likes to loudly deny it.

Yuri runs distracted hands through his hair, making the already messy strands stand on end, and takes a steadying breath. He's always been to dependant, grasping onto Victor's strength when his own began to fail him. To ready to let Victor carry him through the obstacles he hasn't wanted to face alone but really, isn't it insulting to Victor if he can't learn to stand on his own two feet now? At the very least, he can try to give him a flawless performance – if this is to be one of Victor's final seasons then he doesn't want to be the one to ruin it. Victor deserves better than that.

Unfortunately, when written for two, the program that had once been so full of loneliness and sadness has become a rather sensual duet of two bodies with one heart – or at least, that is how Victor describes it the first time he explains his idea. Using his last performance and turning it into a paired program had, admittedly, been a surprising and ingenious suggestion but somehow Yuri can't quite get to grips with it, painfully aware of the proximity their dance demands – of the coming together and parting of two bodies with one heart. It's not that he can't perform the moves; he's surprised to find himself quite able, actually. But whenever he feels Victor's hands brush his waist, lift him into the air with unsurprising strength and fluidity, Yuri has to try very hard not to flinch away and bring them both crashing down.

His skin prickles beneath his sweatshirt where the imprint of Victor's fingers are still visible in the fabric and Yuri has to turn his face away to hide his embarrassment; frightened that Victor can somehow read his thoughts just be looking at him. The Russian is oddly perceptive, for all that he is air-headed.

'Yuri, there is something on your mind.'

Ah, as if to prove his point, Victor's voice travels to him across the ice, all lilting accent and concern. Yuri hears approaching skates glide towards him and feels those hands on him again as Victor turns him around. The flash of gold upon the fourth finger of his right hand flashes briefly in the movement and instils a little calm into Yuri's rattling nerves. He makes a fist of his own hand, feeling the familiar weight and warmth of the golden band on his own finger.

'It's nothing,' He lies, looking anywhere but at Victor. 'I didn't sleep well, that's all.' It is obvious from Victor's raised eyebrows that he doesn't believe him.

With gentle fingertips, he guides Yuri's face until the latter has nowhere to look but directly at Victor. His eyes are blue-green and vivid in his handsome, pale face and Yuri flushes despite his best efforts. 'I know you well enough to know when you're lying,' He points out, his voice neutral but his gaze betraying his worry.

Yuri jerks his chin away before he says something stupid and Victor steps away, sighing. He turns and glides further out onto the ice. Holding out his hand, the one with the ring, he tilts his head and casts him a reassuring smile.

'We'll begin again,' He says. 'And this time, only focus on the music and on me. You must feel the piece or you'll just keep making mistakes.' Yuri nods, though it's easier said than done. He takes Victor's proffered hand, takes up their beginning pose and doesn't tell him that his mistakes are because he' so focused on Victor.

O O O O

They stop for a break just before noon and Yuri falls to the floor in a mess of exhaustion and cramp. He reclines against the bleacher behind him and tries to stretch his aching leg out. It's been almost four hours and he's tiring uncharacteristically fast, though that's probably more to do with his mental torment than his physical stamina. Victor comes to sit beside him and holds out a water bottle. Yuri takes it gratefully and sips while watching his feet.

Beyond their companionable silence, Yuri can just about hear the distant thunder of St. Petersburg's midday traffic. He's been hear for only two months, but he's travelled most of his life and has found it surprisingly easy to fall into the rhythm of this city – so much bigger than his hometown back in Japan. He still can't speak the language very well, though Victor has taught him some of the more basic phrases. Even Yurio has chimed in occasionally but his suggestions are not quite as neutral as asking for directions or saying hello and Victor finally tells him to stop lest Yuri accidentally lands himself in serious trouble. It's lucky, he supposes, that they at least have English in common; a perk of travelling the world with people of all nationalities.

St. Petersburg suits Victor, somehow. Especially at this time of year when it's still snowing and the sky is pale with the light of a white, cold sun. It's a strange notion, Yuri admits, and not one he is prone to sharing with anyone. Just one more oddity he isn't prepared to categorise just yet. For now it's enough, to just indulge in these private thoughts of his.

Though it would be nice if he could leave them here on the bleachers instead of carrying them onto the ice. He's beginning to fear that one more failed jump might just be enough for Victor to send him back home to Japan.

Finished with the bottle, Yuri hands it back. Victor catches his eye and smiles. 'You're getting better,' He tells him, gesturing towards the rink. 'But I've told you before, don't let your thoughts distract you.' He places a finger against Yuri's brow as if to emphasise his point but his face is kind, not angry and when he stands to stretch out his arms and back, Yuri feels a little better about the whole thing.

 _I can do this_ , he tells himself as he follows Victor's lead and readies himself for another round on the rink. But just for a moment he hangs back, one foot poised over the ice, to watch as Victor performs a routine of warm-up movements. Perhaps Yuri is biased or perhaps it is purely down to the carefully ignored feelings that have been clawing at his chest for almost a year, but in that moment, as a lone silhouette against a backdrop of snow-coloured sky, he looks impossibly beautiful and tragically lonely.

But then Victor turns to look at him, grins and holds out his hand – he calls to him, Yuri's name sounding foreign and musical in that soft accent of his, and Yuri likes to think that when he takes Victor's proffered hand, Victor doesn't look quite so lonely anymore.


End file.
